Woolworths shelves empty across Australia in scenes akin to the pandemic

Woolworths customers will face ongoing product shortages on shelves as union members continue to picket supply warehouses and say they will do so until a pay agreement is reached.

United Workers Union members are blocking all entrances to a distribution centre in suburban Melbourne after Woolworths announced plans to reopen.

Plans to bring in more staff on Monday never eventuated, but picketers at the Dandenong South site turned away logistics trucks trying to enter.

The strike action has seen supermarket shelves across Victoria stripped of all available goods, with scenes akin to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Customers can expect to see ongoing empty shelves after the union failed to get an agreement to lift the strike action, Woolworths said.

‘The majority of our team at the Melbourne South Regional Distribution Centre want to return to work and be paid again, our customers are facing increasingly empty shelves, another union has endorsed our deal, and we are still at the negotiating table with the UWU,’ a Woolworths spokesperson said.

‘As long as they continue to block access to our site, our customers will continue to face shortages on shelves in Victoria.’

One store, on Collingwood’s Smith Street, had most of its toilet paper aisle emptied along with large portions of its bakery and refrigerated sections.

The company and union returned to the negotiating table on Monday.

It’s believed the strike is yet to affect Victorian farmers, whose produce normally hits supermarket closer to Christmas – but items such as nappies, toilet paper and drinks have been affected

‘We are hopeful of a breakthrough because our workers deserve to be safe at work,’ United Workers Union National Secretary Tim Kennedy said.

Workers are protesting against ‘unrealistic performance expectations’ which they claim lead to frequent injuries, and demand better wages plus an agreement that workers at different sites are paid the same amount.

In late November, Woolworths insisted all stores were still receiving regular stock deliveries, but some were getting their goods less frequently than previously scheduled.

No product limits were in place at the time apart from eggs, which have been rationed for months following bird flu outbreaks in NSW and Victoria.

It’s believed the strike is yet to affect Victorian farmers, whose produce normally hits supermarkets closer to Christmas – but items such as nappies, toilet paper and drinks have been affected.